


Is It Fake If He Already Wants You?

by at_thezenith, bakrstreetboys



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A Lot of Plot, Crushes, First Kisses, Fluffy, Just very cute, Lances family - Freeform, M/M, Mutual Pining, Practice Kissing, Slow Burn, Voltron, accepting family, fake boyfriends, its very long im sorry, joey is lances brother, keith is older, klance, maria is lances sister, maybe a little smut later on, slight biphobia??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2018-12-02 04:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11501388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/at_thezenith/pseuds/at_thezenith, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakrstreetboys/pseuds/bakrstreetboys
Summary: Lance needs to introduce someone to his family, and Keith is happy to oblige. Only issue is, they aren't actually dating, and Lance is kind of hopelessly in love (the most unoriginal storyline ever but it's cute).





	1. The One Where Lance Lies (A Lot)

**Author's Note:**

> The chapters are quite long for this fic, so there'll be new chapters every 1/2 weeks. I'm going to make a playlist that goes with each chapter, so check out charltennant on Spotify to listen to it! Enjoy :))

It had been less than thirty seconds since he had hung up the phone on his mother and already he had a missed call from Maria, and a text from his brother (“ _Firstly, this dude better be hot or else he doesn’t get the Joey seal of approval, and secondly, well done for finally bringing someone home for Christmas, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard Mama squeal louder_ ”).

Lance decided to reply to the latter first, in order to save his ears from the scream he would almost undoubtedly be greeted with when he called his sister back. Also, it was a hell of a lot easier to lie over text than it was over the phone. He quickly tapped out a reply (“ _you rly think I would date someone who wasn’t a solid 10? srsly though, thanks man_ ”), and took a deep breath before hitting the ‘call’ button. He waited less than two rings before the expected shrill voice met his ears.

“Lance McClain! You have no idea how proud I am of you, but I am so _very_ disappointed that I wasn’t the first to be told about your boyfriend.”  
Lance had a weird relationship with his sister, in that she was simultaneously his best friend (besides Keith and Joey), his annoying older sister, and his mother. Which is why he got that she was a tiny bit upset that she wasn’t the first to know.

“Okay, Ria, I’m sorry, but I wanted it to be a surprise, and how can trust that big ass mouth of yours with something like this? Ma would know in a freaking _day_.”

“Okay, point.

The line was silent for a moment before Lance heard a crackle from the other end of the phone. He guessed she had just laid down on her bed (her favourite phone conversation position), and was about to say something before he heard her take a breath.

“Tell me things. Dude, I wanna know all the things. How old is he? Is he tall? Where and when and why did you meet? _Dios mío_ , please tell me it’s a cute story. Is he hot? Good in bed?’

“Right, first off I’m gonna stop you there before you start asking me what he’s into.”

“Give me some credit man, I wouldn’t ask – wait, no, I totally would. What is he into?”

“Yeah, I’m not telling you that.”

“At least answer my other questions then. I don’t even know his _name_ yet, dude.”

“…Keith.” He could see the look Maria was giving the phone.

“Seriously? Keith? How old is –?”

“Do you want me to answer the rest of the questions or not?”

“Fine,” she whined, “go ahead.”

“Okay, like, firstly; he is fine as all hell. Like, a solid eleven out of ten. Taller than me, so like six foot six two, maybe? He’s twenty-one, and I’ll tell you how we met when we come see you; it’s a long story.”

And by that, Lance meant: “I seriously need to think of something before you meet him.”

The rest of the conversation flowed fairly smoothly, the only bump being when Maria asked him about their first kiss story, and he made up some bullshit about Fireworks Night. To which Maria had responded: “So you’ve been dating him a month and you’re already bringing him home?” Again, Lance was stumped, and stuttered that he had meant last Fireworks Night, which prompted a shrill “so you meant to tell me that you’ve been dating this guy for a year and I still haven’t met him? Dude.”

So, all in all, the conversation had been a success; his mother, brother and sister all believed he was dating this fine as hell, tall, nineteen year old called Keith.

One problem; he hadn’t actually asked Keith.

So that was the reason why he was so nervous right then, despite having spent roughly a quarter of his adolescent life in this very room. The red wall adjacent to the window was as familiar as the blue wall opposite the door in his own room. He was so accustomed to the Smiths posters that littered the walls, the ones opposite the window faded after years of direct sunlight, and the black clock that hung above the door, that this house was more of a home than his school dorm would ever be.

His hands were clammy because he had absolutely no idea what Keith would say to this idea, and definitely not because Keith had just entered the room wearing nothing but a grey towel slung low around his hips. The dryness of his mouth and the shortness of his breath definitely had nothing to do with those long fucking eyelashes, or the way his wet hair flopped over his eyes in a way that shouldn’t be legal.

This was a usual routine for them. Providing nether of them had to work an extra shift at the restaurant they both worked at (and incidentally, where they had met), Lance would head to Keith’s as soon as his last lecture on a Friday was over. Keith would pretty much always be in the shower when Lance unlocked the door to his best friend’s shared house with the key Keith had had cut last year, so the younger boy would flop onto Keith’s bed, facing the window so that he could avoid be greeted with the glorious sight that was Keith After A Shower when the latter entered the room. It wasn't that he wanted to miss the view, but he really couldn’t trust his reactions when it came to Keith. But this time, Lance had been so preoccupied with finding a way to word the question “yo Keith, my buddy, my man, how do you feel about coming to mine for Christmas, meeting my slightly overbearing family, and pretending to be my boyfriend for two weeks?” that he'd just sat on the bed, losing track of time.

When the subject of his thoughts entered the room to see Lance staring intently at the clock on the wall, before moving wide eyes to his best friend, Keith Kogane, genius that he was, thought that the best thing to do would be to whip off his towel, and throw the damp piece of material square at Lance’s face. It was at that moment that Lance stopped breathing for two reasons; firstly, Keith Kogane was standing a mere two metres from him wearing literally nothing; and secondly, the soggy towel was doing a very good job at covering his mouth and, therefore, constricting his breathing. He waited a moment before removing the towel, under the pretence of being unable to find the edge, in the hope that in the time it took, Keith would have at least put some damn pants on. His plan worked, and Lance was both relieved and disappointed at the sight of Keith in pants, albeit shirtless. Lance did what he usually did in any situation where his true feelings may be revealed, and succeeded in hiding how flustered he was by making some kind of joke, which, thankfully, Keith laughed at.

It had been over an hour since the Towel Incident, and Lance was lying on his front, reading some book from the 1800s that was so incredibly dull and long winded that after 20 minutes, he had read no more than a page, and if someone asked him what had happened in that one page, he would struggle to answer. A weight was on the small of his back, where Keith had his laptop balanced as he worked on his assignment. Every now and then he would huff loudly, and Lance would hear – and feel – the violent thumping of a finger on keyboard as Keith attacked the backspace key. He seemed to have given up a while ago, and was currently tracing patterns onto Lance’s side.

If he was being honest, the reason Lance hadn’t asked earlier was because he was afraid that if he spoke, the hitch in his voice would be so apparent that Keith would be able to read the truth immediately, like he had a tendency to (but only with Lance). But now was a good a time as any, so he pushed the laptop to the side carefully, and sat up so that he was facing Keith. He realised, as he did so, that the idea was a mistake. From this position, all he could focus on was the steely grey that was Keith’s eyes, and that stupid goddamn mullet that Lance secretly loved. Actually, that was a lie; he never even pretended to hate it. The pairs’ knees were touching, and Lance had another of those fleeting moments where he considered just kissing his best friend, but then Keith lifted a gloved hand to sweep that ridiculous fringe away from his face, and eye contact was lost, and the moment passed. He cleared his throat and moved a hand to tuck a stray curl behind Keith’s ear, before looking away, trying to hide his flustered face. It was getting harder and harder to hide this freaking crush, but he could do it.

“Do you happen to have plans for Christmas?” Lance really hoped that Keith couldn’t tell how his voice seemed to refuse to remain steady.

“Hmm, well, let’s see; both my parents are dead, and the Child Prodigy is off doing some fancy astrophysics course, so, no. No plans.” His face was completely deadpan, and Lance couldn’t tell if he’d actually upset his best friend.

“I’m sorry man, I –”

“Lance, it’s fine. I’d rather joke about it than wallow in my emo ass tears. But, to answer your question, no, I have no plans for Christmas, except maybe having eggnog rather than coffee while I write up this fucking novel on the structure of planets.’

“Well, that sounds lonely as hell.’

“Nah I’m used to it.” Keith shrugged, as if being lonely for Christmas of all holidays was normal.

“It’s just – I was just gonna ask, and feel free to say no if you’d feel like you’re letting down your eggnog, but do you wanna come to my parents’?”

Keith blinked, clearly not expecting this question, and ran a hand through his hair again, and, almost on instinct, Lance tucked the curl behind Keith’s ear again, like the lovestruck fool he was. Noticing the doubt in Keith’s eyes, he worried he’d overstepped some sort of invisible line, and he backtracked in order to relieve Keith’s clear discomfort.

“I mean, you don’t have to –”

“Dude are you kidding? That sounds sick! I mean, my eggnog might be a tiny but disappointed, but I’m sure she can come with us.”

Lance fidgeted, and shifted his line of sight from Keith’s face and focused on his own hands.

“Um, there’s kinda one other thing, which is a bit weird. So y’know my mom’s been going on at me for ages about bringing someone home?’

“Yeah? It’s literally all you ever go on about.”

“Okay shh…” He placed a finger to Keith’s lips, and the other boy’s eyes narrowed. A tussle ensued which ended up with Lance pinned underneath his best friend (and damn if that didn’t fulfil half of his nightly fantasies); Keith had always been the stronger one. He leaned down and smirked.

“I win.” He relaxed his grip, and Lance returned a grin of his own, before tickling his exposed stomach. Keith shrieked, and Lance burst out laughing, followed by Keith when he’d seen the funny side. Once their giggles calmed down, it would probably have been more logical for them to return to their previous sitting position, but neither moved, so the conversation continued as they were.

“So, what’s the catch?”

“How willing would you be to pretend you’re my boyfriend, around my slightly overbearing family for two weeks?”

Keith’s eyes widened again in the way that they always did when he was surprised, or just had an idea. His lips curved upwards into another smirk and he leaned forward towards Lance’s ear. If the latter didn’t know any better, he’d think Keith was leaning down for something else, but, unfortunately, he did know better. That didn’t stopped his heart from fluttering when he felt Keith’s breath against his neck, and Lance was trying to persuade his blood to return to his _brain_.

“Why the hell not?” Keith pulled back just in time to see Lance's face turn bright red, and his smile grew. It was funny how easily Lance got flustered by most things Keith did. It was also the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. Realising he was still sat on his best friend, he sat up, and crossed the room, under the pretence of grabbing his jumper from where it had been unceremoniously chucked across the chair. It was boiling in his room, but he needed a valid excuse to leave the bed.

“Seriously, I think most of my friends think we're dating anyway so it’s not like it’s a big thing.”

“Do they actually?”

Keith plonked back down on the bed, lying next to Lance, with his fingers somehow finding their way into Lance’s hair.

“Well, yeah. I mean, you do spend like, all your time here, and I mean, if you walked in on two people doing what we are now, wouldn’t you think they were dating?’

Lance truly hadn’t thought about that. He knew that a lot of the time him and Keith acted like they were more than platonic, but he hadn’t considered that other people would notice. Thinking about it now, it was probably hard for them not to.

The pair spent the evening as they usually do, they caught up on episodes of TV shows they’d missed, or rewatched ones they’d already seen. They ordered in pineapple pizza, and climbed under the duvet only when they’d completed the brand new third season of _Voltron: Legendary Defender_ , a guilty pleasure of them both. Keith sleep talked, as usual, and Lance probably had another nightmare, and by the time they woke up, Keith had, of course, stolen all the blanket.

The morning had passed in a blur of pancakes, tea, and arguments over who got the Moriartea mug, dubbed by Lance the best mug in existence. It was Saturday so neither had anything to get up for, and this meant that neither of them left the house (or in fact went anywhere except the kitchen, bathroom, or Keith’s room) until about three in the afternoon. Keith was sat on the floor, cross-legged and leaning against the wardrobe behind him. His head in his best friends lap, Lance was scrolling through something that held absolutely no meaning on his phone while Keith played with his hair absent-mindedly.

“Dude, are we actually gonna do anything today?” Keith muttered softly, and grabbed his phone from its place on the floor beside him to check the time. “It’s like, shit – it’s three already.”

Grunting with the effort, Lance got up, and spun around so he could face Keith. He had a look of amused shock on his face, and Keith tried not to laugh as he watched his best friend prance around the room pretending to be horrified that they’d done basically nothing all day.

“How dare we?” He grabbed a scarf from the back of the chair that sat in front of Keith’s desk (Lance had been in this room more times than he could count, and he could swear, hand on his heart that he’d never seen that chair without some form of clothing chucked unceremoniously over it), and stepped up onto Keith’s bed, spewing quotes from Sherlock in a truly awful British accent. It was the impression of Moriarty at the swimming pool that had Keith doubled over with laughter; the full body shake that never failed to make Lance laugh along with him; and crossing the room to join his best friend in surprisingly decent rendition of _Stayin’ Alive_.

Collapsing onto the bed and resuming the position they’d spent most of the night in – Keith on his back, and Lance cuddled up to his chest – they began to discuss everything they could feasibly do with the remaining hours of sunlight. They talked about swimming, but the pool was closed, there was nothing on at the cinema, and neither were in the mood to walk into town only to return with sweaty shirts – even though it was only early June, the weather was unseasonably warm – and slightly less money than they did when they left. It was the suggestion of going out to get food (“Look, Lance, we always order in, why not go out for an actual meal? God knows you need to lay off the McDonald’s”) that had Lance realising that for his plan to work, and for his mother to be convinced, the pair would actually need to act as if they were dating. Neither had thought it an issue; they held hands and hugged on a daily basis anyway, and the totally ironic nicknames they had for each other could probably be seen as romantic. So, they needed to practice.

It was Keith that came up with the idea of faking this relationship, not just to Lance’s family, but to their friends for a few days to see if they were a truly convincing couple. They hadn’t kissed before – although they had come very close once when Lance had turned up at Keith’s house after midnight, tipsy, but apparently not drunk enough to follow through when he’d leant forward to kiss his best friend – and, really, that was the only hurdle they had to overcome.

“So, are we gonna do this or…?” Keith trailed off. His hands rested on Lance’s knees, who sat cross-legged opposite him. Lance’s own hands lay relaxed at his sides, but as he nodded and began to lean in, one crept to grip Keith’s shoulder. Both had their eyes closed, and Lance really hoped the other couldn’t feel the tremor in his lips when they touched, or feel the shakiness of his breath, which he probably could because they were so damn close and that was making it a little hard for Lance to breathe properly. And maybe he hesitated for a moment too long because suddenly the warm hands left his knees, and he heard Keith’s soft voice, definitely huskier than it was five minutes ago.

“Hey, you know we don’t have to do this, right?”

Lance let out a soft chuckle and looked down. He knew they didn’t have to, but _damn_ if he didn’t _want_ to.

“I know dude. S’just, I haven’t really kissed anyone since I was, what, 15?” Repositioning himself on the bed, Lance laughed again, a breathy little giggle with a hint of self-deprecation. And that’s when Keith cupped Lance’s face with one hand, told him to stop being nervous, and promised to make the kiss a good one. This lightened the mood, and even though Lance had hardly imagined kissing anyone since three years ago, he was glad that it was Keith who was pressing soft lips to his own, rubbing a comforting thumb over his cheekbone. They pulled away for a short moment, and then Lance leant forward again, kissing Keith with a little more fervour. The kiss lasted less than twenty seconds, and yet it was already the best part of Lance’s entire year. He pulled away, though, after Keith had introduced tongue. If he was ready for that with anyone, it was his best friend, but he was worried that if the kiss didn’t end there, Lance wouldn’t have let it end at all.

Keith’s voice was breathless as he broke the silence.

“Yeah. I think they’ll probably be convinced.”


	2. The One Where Lance Realises His Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so basically Lance is melting because Keith's hot as hell and he realises that he's gonna gave to spend two weeks with his crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> right so I wasn't actually planning on continuing this on past the first chapter but I actually really enjoy writing this so here you go. also thank you to knobhear for editing this :))
> 
> //hi, h here i'm the editor and em is an actual dickhead okay

Lance’s eyes were still closed when they broke apart, and they stayed closed for a few seconds – he wanted to make the moment last just a little bit longer. When Keith spoke, he reluctantly opened his eyes, and was met with the wide-eyes and grin of his best friend. He should have said something, he knew that, but he couldn’t think of anything. Actually – that was a lie. Lance had so many things running through his head, but he couldn’t think of one that was appropriate to say right now.

_“Dios mío, kiss me again.”_

_“That was the best kiss of my life and I’m so glad it was with you.”_

_“I think I might be in love with you.”_

And last, but _certainly_ not least:

_“Fuck.”_

Maybe he had spent too long staring at Keith’s lips, because the boy in question was looking at him with a worried expression – eyebrows knitted together in a way that was too adorable and should not have been allowed (if only for the sake of Lance’s sanity).

“Hey, are you – was that not…” Keith trailed off, grin fading, and Lance hurriedly cut in.

“I, um, no, that was good. Really good.”

Internally, Lance slapped himself, but Keith smiled at Lance, and to break the silence that surprisingly, wasn’t too awkward, Lance jumped up from the bed and switched on the speaker that sat across the room, on the middle shelf of the bookshelf next to the window.

As The Vaccines blasted from the speaker, they discussed how they’d go about convincing their friends of their new ‘relationship’. Turns out, as they would find out the next day, it really didn’t take much.

* * *

 

**_THE PALADINS_ **

**Hunk:** _everyone still up for tomorrow?_

 **Shiro:** _yeah, allura and I will be there_

 **Pidge:** _ooh it’s ‘we’ now is it?_

 **Lance:** _what did you expect they’ve been together for like a whole week already_

 **Shiro:** _guys promise youll be cool tomorrow_

 **Hunk:** _yeah alright we promise_

 **Pidge:** _hunk! don’t agree to things so easy, we’ll think about it shiro_

 **Keith:** _yeah lance and I will definitely be there_

 **Pidge:** _oooooh lance and I_

 **Lance:** _stfu aha_

 **Pidge:** _U DIDN’T DENY IT ITS CANON_

 **Keith:** _I just want you all to know that lance is blushing so much right now_

“Dude, come on! What happens in your room stays in your room, _not_ on the group chat.” Lance threw a pillow at Keith, which the latter easily avoided, then caught and threw back at Lance, who was way too busy looking at shirtless Keith (because apparently it was too hot for shirts) using those goddamn arm muscles.

“Aw, you’re all flustered.”  Keith looked down at his knees before making shy eye contact again. “It’s kinda cute.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Blushing furiously, Lance looked back down at his phone, only to find a photo of himself on the group chat.

 **Pidge:** _I need photographic evidence_

 **Hunk:** _yeah I second that_

 **Shiro:** _I third (??) that_

**Keith sent an image to the chat**

**Pidge:** _THIS IS THE BEST THING IVE SEEN ALL YEAR_

 **Lance:** _i actually hate you_

 **Keith:** _nahh you love me really_

 **Lance:** _…_

“If we’re going to tell them we’re together, should we online or tomorrow?” Keith was frowning at his phone, as if the (annoyingly cute) expression would aid him in making the decision.

“Tomorrow. I wanna see Pidge’s face.”

“Yes! Oh my god they’ll probably scream.”

As Keith got on with some homework or whatever he was typing up on his battered black laptop, Lance let himself think about how the next few weeks could go.

He would take Keith to his parents, who would love him (of course they would, who wouldn’t), and he’d get on well with all four of his siblings. Maybe he’d even be good with kids; Keith would be funny and adorable around them, he would play castles with Sofía, and maybe sing her the special lullaby she could never sleep without. Because _damn_ could Keith sing. His voice was just husky enough to make Lance’s knees go weak, but he could still hold a tune and hit the high notes of every song that Lance had ever heard him sing. Perhaps Keith would play with Mateo and his beloved Captain America and Iron Man figurines; the little boy had been trying to marry them, but wouldn’t without a proper ‘vicar’ – maybe Keith could fulfil that role.

Keith would get on well with his Ma, they would talk baking and Location, Location, Location (or Location thrice, as Lance called it). He’d talk swimming and books with his dad. Keith would be able to read _Black Beauty_ to his Nana, because she couldn’t read anymore. And they would get to act all couple-y. Lance could kiss Keith whenever he wanted. Sneak up behind him and wrap his arms around his waist, and kiss him on the cheek, while Keith’s eyes were half shut with sleep at 9am. They could make breakfast together, and then spend the day laughing together, sneaking kisses whenever they could, and playing with Lance’s younger siblings. They could spend the evening drinking with Ria (and maybe sneak a cider for Joey), swapping stories and having the best time Lance would have had in a while. They could sit around the firepit in the garden, holding hands and snuggling up together when the sun began to set. Then they would head up to bed.  They would share a bed, Lance pressed up to Keith’s side, as usual, although the only difference now would be that Lance could kiss Keith until they both fell asleep, and they would hold hands, fingers interlaced tightly and –

“I, um, I need to go to the bathroom, be right back.”

Lance quickly disentangled himself from the blankets and practically ran to the toilet. When he got there, the tips of his fingers were dug so tightly into his palm that he was pretty sure he had drawn blood. It was then that he realised how hard this was going to be. He would have to pretend to be with the man he loved, who would pretend to love him back, only at the end of the day there would be no goodnight kisses because it would all be fucking fake and Lance couldn’t do this.

“Hey, Lance? You okay?”

A knock on the door preceded the sound of Keith’s voice, laced with anxiety. Lance sniffled, and tried to stem the flow of tears that he hadn’t realised had begun falling.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just, uh, give me a sec, ‘kay?”

“Alright buddy, if you’re sure?”

Lance hummed in the affirmative, and waited another minute before flushing the toilet (even though he’d just been sat on the lid the whole time) and wiping his eyes in order to make it seem as though they hadn’t had tears flowing from them for the past minute or so.

With an overly bright grin that was _clearly_ masking sort of upset, Lance trudged back into the bedroom. Keith’s face still held an expression of worry, but to Lance’s overwhelming joy, he didn’t mention Lance’s puffy eyes.

“Oi, loser, The Goonies, or Forrest Gump?”

“Is that even a question?” Lance collapsed onto the bed as he replied, glad that he had turned to face the laptop in front of them, and therefore no longer had a clear view of Lance’s face.

“The Goonies it is, then.”

As they snuggled down on Keith’s bed, Lance noticed that Keith still had his arms around him, but his hands were resting on the mattress, and not entwined with Lance’s, or playing gently with his hair. They watched the movie in silence, and it was Keith’s rendition of Toothpaste Kisses in a soft hum that had him falling asleep slowly in Keith’s arms. And when Lance woke up in the middle of the night (when Keith checked the clock it was 3:56am), crying yet again, Keith simply began humming again, stroking his fingers gently through Lance’s hair, and the latter was asleep again within ten minutes.

When Keith and Lance walked into the café in the next day, they were holding hands. When they sat down at the bench, they sat way closer than they needed to. When Shiro and Allura arrived, they both made sure to take note of all the cutesy little things that they did, like a kiss on the cheek when the other said something nice about the other. Like when Allura rested her head on Shiro’s shoulder as she laughed at something he’d said.

“Hello, bitches.” Ignoring pointed stares from the old couple who sat by the window, Pidge headed over to the table by the fireplace where four of their best friends sat, closely followed by Hunk.

“Pidge, don’t swear, there’re kids present.”

“Yeah, alright _Dad_.”

Shiro faked looking shocked, and everyone else laughed as Pidge and Hunk sat down opposite Keith and his ‘boyfriend’. As time went on, Keith had kissed Lance on the cheek three times, and Lance was pretty sure he’d developed a crick in his neck from the amount of time he’d had his head rested on Keith’s shoulder. They had their fingers interlinked, hands resting on the table, and if they’d talked about sleeping in the same bed once, they’d done it a hundred times. Lance couldn’t be happier, if only he could ignore the nagging feeling that Keith didn’t actually mean any of this; it was all for show.

The minutes ticked by, and before long, Lance had had 3 caramel frappucinos (well, two and a half – he’d shared one with Keith), and it was probably time for them all to be heading off. So he made eye contact with Keith, a silent question in his eyes, and the latter nodded.

“So guys, there’s something Keith and I wanna tell you.”

“Dude,” Pidge leaned back in their chair, slurping a mint hot chocolate with the smug face of someone who knew more than they should. “If you’re going to tell us you’re together, that’s hardly a fucking surprise.”

“Pidge! Language!”

“Are you seriously focusing more on their swearing than the fact that we are _together?_ ”

“Yeah, but you have been for like, months right?”

The telepathic conversation that Keith and Lance then had conveyed a lot in just a few short seconds.

_Are we actually that obvious?_

_Probably? I don’t know, man._

_It’s your fault you’re too affectionate._

_Only for you baby girl._ Keith winked at Lance and the latter huffed at the nickname that he could just _tell_ Keith had been passing on telepathically.

There were only six days left before Lance had to spend two weeks stuck with his family, and for once that wasn’t the worst part of it. As Lance lay in his bed that night (it felt weird being in his own bed again), he thought about how the hell he was going to keep this stupid little crush a secret when he was gonna have to spend practically every waking minute with said crush. He fell asleep thinking about Keith; his hair, those lips, the hips that led to ridiculously lean legs, his voice. It was no surprise that Lance woke up achingly hard beneath the sheets the next morning. Yep, there was no way he was going to survive the next fortnight.

Lance spent that Monday drifting off in classes, and counting down the minutes until he could go see Keith, which was basically the same as every Monday for the past two years. Today they were going out into town, because Keith had a Topman voucher, and Lance wanted to scour the local thrift stores for a new(ish) jacket. According to Keith, everything he owned made him look homeless, but that was kinda Lance’s style (providing he bought a pair of skinny jeans every now and then).

Once Lance’s last class was over, he grabbed his bike from the shelter behind the art block and started the fifteen minute cycle to Keith’s university. When he got there, he parked his bike in Keith’s designated spot (which he never used, but still paid the two dollars a month to give Lance a safe place to keep his bike when he cycled) and locked it up. Watching the people walk past, Lance sat on the stone wall opposite the science block of Keith’s university (his best friend had a physics lecture last), and waited for him to exit the building. And when he did, it was just as well Lance was sat down, because if not, his knees would probably have given way. Mullet scraped back into a bun at the nape of his neck, dark locks framing his face, Keith looked _damn_ good _._ His jeans were skin tight as usual, and Lance had a hard time looking away from the ass his eyes were drawn to like a fucking magnet. But he was glad that he did, because Keith appeared to be wearing one of Lance’s own jumpers; an oversized khaki sweater with the words _Elmore Eagles_ emblazoned in faded white), and he’d be lying if he said that didn’t get his heart fluttering like crazy.

And Keith, the bastard, must have noticed the flush that was almost definitely spreading up Lance’s neck because he slowed his walk, and his mouth curved into a smirk. He sauntered over to Lance and, without stumbling at all (because the bastard was smooth as all hell in every situation), leant down and grabbed Lance’s hips. The latter honest to god _whimpered_ when Keith muttered something in his ear, breath close enough to tickle Lance’s neck.

“Hey babe, ready to go?”

After ghosting another breath over the shell of Lance’s ear, he pulled back and gave his friend a sultry look, before dissolving into giggles.

“Dude, your _face_! Jesus _Christ,_ man, I don’t actually think it’s possible for someone to blush more.”

Lance laughed, hiding his flushed face in his hands, so, _so_ glad that his jacket was resting on his lap.

Yeah, these next two weeks were going to be demanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated as usual :))


	3. The One Where Keith Meets Lala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so we finally meet some of lance's family, and also there's the little roadtrip which is fun :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo so this fic is still going apparently. I think this chapter's a little longer than the others (verging on 3000), but still, hope you guys like it. as always thanks to helen for editing bc I cannot spell for shit and also I hate editing. 
> 
> I forgot to put up the Spotify playlist for the second chapter, but its up now, and the playlist for this chapter will be up later today (playlists have the same title as the chapters, and the account is charltennant).
> 
> also I just wanted to confirm ages because I had to make a slight change for the storyline to exist:
> 
> Lance: 19  
> Keith: 21  
> Maria/Ria: 22  
> Joey: 15  
> Mateo: 9  
> Sofía: 7  
> Pidge: 17  
> Hunk: 18  
> Shiro: 23  
> Allura: 21

“So, how long is the drive exactly?” Keith was becoming impatient from the passenger seat already, his feet were up on the dashboard and his fingers played with a loose thread on the sleeve of his plaid over shirt. It hung, loose and unbuttoned over a plain grey t-shirt, which matched the colour of the faded Converse he wore on his elevated feet. Keith was a fashion hound, he just refused to admit it.

“We left yours like less than ten minutes ago, dude. I will actually slap you if you’re asking ‘are we nearly there yet?’ every five minutes, fake boyfriend or no.”

Huffing indignantly, Keith turned to face Lance.

“I only asked once!”

“Well, clearly you can’t count, because this is the third time you’ve asked since we left. And the ride’s just off five hours, if there’s no traffic. Like I told you the first _two_ times.”

They continued chatting idly until they reached the two hour mark of their journey, where there was a small service station, complete with McDonald’s and a tiny convenience store which seemed only to sell a variety of out of date sandwiches, Polo mints, and condoms. Keith and Lance decided not to go in there. But a couple minutes later, they were sat on the waxy seats of a booth in the fast food restaurant enjoying chips that were too salty, and burger that had too much bun and not enough sauce.

“So,” Keith mumbled, surprisingly clearly around a mouthful of burger. “If we’re gonna convince your family that we’re actually dating, we need to figure some shit out, dude. How did we meet, how long have we been dating, etcetera etcetera.”

“Okay, actually, I was thinking about this.” This, at least, wasn’t a lie, because he had, but maybe a little (correction: a lot) more than he ought to have done. Keith hummed, a sign for him to continue, and leant his chin on interlocked fingers.

“So, I thought, um, the easiest way for us to lie convincingly, would be to base it on how we actually met? Plus I don’t trust either of us to remember a story that we made up completely.”

“What, so we tell them the whole café thing?”

The day Lance had met Keith, it had been raining. It was that annoying kind of rain that was light enough to go whichever way the wind was blowing, and that meant that there was always this annoying damp mist in Lance’s face as he ducked into his favourite café. At least, he called it his favourite; he had never actually been there before, but it looked nice from the outside, and Lance had always been meaning to go in, but it was so out of his way that he had never bothered. But after visiting the college he was thinking of going to, he discovered that the café was only a five minute walk away, so it was the perfect time to go. When he’d entered, Lance had mussed up his hair, and rubbed a hand over his face, revelling in the warmth, and _dryness_ of the tiny shop. He ordered a mocha, sat down, drank it, and left. It had been mediocre, and he doubted he’d go back there unless there was nothing better available.

The reason he had met Keith was because Lance had been a forgetful idiot, as per usual. It had been three days since the mediocre mocha, when Lance received a text from an unknown number.

**_Unknown number:_ ** _Hey, is this Lance? You left your wallet at that café by my college a couple days ago. You’ve probably been freaking out about it, so sorry that I didn’t text earlier, i’m an idiot who loses his charger._

**_Unknown number:_ ** _i’m Keith btw._

Lance saved the contact, and breathed out a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t have to go through the pain of cancelling his card.

**_Me:_ ** _oh my god thanks dude! can I meet you at the café at some point in a couple days?_

**_Keith (wallet guy):_ ** _bit early to be asking me on date don’t you think?_

**_Keith (wallet guy):_ ** _jks, i can meet you at 4 today if that’s good for you?_

**_Me:_ ** _it’s a date ;)_

When they’d met that Thursday afternoon, they’d gotten along so well, and after finding out that Lance would be going to the same college he was at, even though, due to their ages, once Lance started there, Keith would be starting at university, Keith had asked to keep in touch, and the rest was history.

Lance had been so caught up in thinking about how they met, that it took Keith flicking his nose in the middle of McDonald’s for him to start listening again.

“You there, buddy?” Keith asked, and Lance nodded in reply.

“Right, so we just tell them about the lost wallet thing, then we’ll just say I asked you out, um, you told your mom we’d been dating for a year, right?”

“Yeah, I made up something about fireworks night last year.”

“Ok so we can just say I asked you out then. We had our first kiss under the fireworks and shit, your mom sounds like someone who loves cutesy stuff.”

Lance was beginning to get a little choked up, because this was perfect. The story was cute as hell, and everything Lance had been dreaming of for three years, and it was fake. Even worse, he would be lying to his entire family.

“Right, should we, um, get back on the road? If we wanna get there before one, we should get going.” What he didn’t say aloud, was that he really needed the distraction of driving right now.

An hour later, and Lance had his music playing quietly while Keith slept. They were around halfway through their journey, and Lance’s playlist was now just repeating itself; he had listened to _Every Me, Every You_ at least three times now and as good as the song was, he was bored of it. So when the next song came up, it provided the ideal opportunity to wake Keith from his nap. The younger boy almost didn’t want to – Keith actually looked really cute as he slept – but Lance needed sleep too. So, when the mêlée of bass instruments at the beginning of _Another Night On Mars_ slipped quietly out the car’s old speakers, Lance spun the battered dial to the right, and Keith jerked awake with a grunt just as the lyrics began.

His eyes were wide open, but glassy as he stretched out his arms and neck.

“Honestly, you’re _such_ a dick. I was sleeping.” Yawning, Keith poked Lance’s shoulder, and settled down into the seat, closing his eyes again.

“Oi, don’t you go back to sleep, I woke you up for a reason. I’m tired of driving; it’s your turn.”

“Thought you said we weren’t swapping ‘til we were halfway?” Keith muttered sleepily.

Lance huffed and informed his best friend that they were in fact halfway there, and if they didn’t switch soon, he may in fact fall asleep at the wheel and then they’d never get to eat Lance’s ma’s glorious _turrón_. This seemed to rouse Keith from his half asleep state, and five minutes later, they were pulled over in a small layby, stretching their legs, before swapping seats.

They only stopped once more on their journey because “ _Lance I swear to god you have the smallest bladder possible, for fuck’s sake we’re going to be there in half an hour can’t you hold it?”_. In that time, Lance didn’t sleep, no matter how many sheep he counted, or how tired his brain was. He blamed the not sleeping partly on the volume at which Keith was playing his music, and mostly on Keith. Because that fucker was singing along to the old eighties tunes (of course he still listened to that shit, he was practically living in that decade, Lance decided, thanks to the mullet), and he could _sing_ , _díos mio_ he could sing. So that’s why Lance spent the last hour of the journey (minus the toilet break) facing the window and feigning sleep, because he didn’t think he would actually survive if he had to listen to _and_ watch Keith sing, and still not kiss him.

The last ten minutes of the journey was spent with Keith getting annoyed because of all the little winding roads that they needed to drive through in order to get to Lance’s parents’ house. Every time they reached the end of yet another short road, Keith would huff and ask Lance which way to go, Lance would chuckle softly and answer, and Keith would turn the wheel angrily, ad mutter under his breath that Lance should be driving, and Lance would reply that it wasn’t his turn, and that Keith would have to get used to it. This happened without a doubt around thirty times before they finally pulled up to their destination.

Keith hadn’t even taken the key out the ignition and he already knew he was going to have an amazing two weeks. The house was huge, and it was beautiful. Built from red brick, it stood two stories high, and had proud red roses climbing up from the doorway all the way to the chimney above the upstairs windows. Each window had different coloured curtains, and upon each windowsill sat something which clearly marked which member of the McClain family lived in it. The castle spaceship that clearly belonged to Lance’s little sister, Sofíá. The room with the _Avengers_ figurines in the widow belonged to Mateo, and the adjacent one (with the football trophies in the window) was Joey’s. On the other side, the room with light grey curtains and an easel in the window belonged to Lance’s other sister Maria (or Ria as Lance said she liked to be called). That meant the window on the far right of the house had a view into Lance’s room. The white curtains were drawn, but Keith could see the blue lion teddy bear that sat proudly on the windowsill, surrounded by smaller lions of different colours: green, yellow, black and red.

They both got out of the car, and grabbed their bags from the back seat. Pointing his keys behind him in order to lock the car, Lance gestured to Keith, and they both headed up the gravel driveway that led to the door of the house. They walked in complete silence, so it was definitely a shock to their ears when the door opened and a short figure clad in a floral apron appeared.

“Lance!” The woman, who Keith decided was Lance’s mom, pulled her son into a tight hug, forcing him to drop the bag he was holding. They exchanged a few whispered words, ad Keith stood awkwardly next to the emotional scene. When they pulled away, he stuck his free hand out for a polite handshake.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs McCl-” His words were cut off, and his hand pushed to the side as Lance’s mom pulled him into an equally tight hug. She pulled back, and Keith resumed his position awkwardly standing next to his ‘boyfriend’.

“It’s lovely to meet you too, sweetheart. But really, call me Lita, I’m not your teacher.”

Before he could reply, a screech of _“Lala!”_ came from upstairs, and a little girl dressed in full ninja gear, with fairy wings strapped to her back, and a plastic tiara on her head came barrelling down the stairs.

“Sofy!” Lance picked up Sofía in his arms and spun her around quickly.

“Lance, put her _down,_ she’s just eaten, and I don’t want her being sick!”

“No Lala, faster!”

Lance giggled and set her back down on her feet, he noticed her grumpy expression, and told her that he couldn’t have his favourite princess being sick a week before Christmas.

“Lala, who this?” Sofía wandered over to Keith, brandishing the tiara that she now held in her chubby, six year old hand.

“Hi Sofy, I’m Keith. I’m _Lala’s_ boyfriend,” he said, smirking at Lance, who glared at him.  

“So are you and Lala like mommy and daddy?” Her voice grew evermore inquisitive, and Keith guessed that curiosity must run in the family.

“Yeah, kind of.” He shot a look at Lance, who just shrugged, mouthing _payback_ , and grinning.

“Okay.” She turned away, but then whirled around again, and grabbed Keith’s wrist – a signal for him to kneel down. He did so, and she whispered something in his ear.

“Do you want to be a princess? I think you look pretty with a tara.” Placing the tiara on Keith’s messy hair, she grabbed his hand and turned to Lance.

“Keef prettier than you.”

“Damn right.” Maria whistled as she came down the stairs, her eyes sweeping down Keith’s body. Her mother reprimanded her for her use of language ( _“Maria Adelita McClain, not in front of Sofía. Silly girl.”)_ and ushered the younger girl into the kitchen.

“Hands off Ria, he’s mine.” She chuckled and went over to hug her brother.

“Yeah, yeah, nice to see you too Lance.” Pulling away, she went to introduce herself to Keith.

“And I know he’s all yours dude, but you’re right, he is _fine_.”

Keith blushed to the roots of dark hair, and let it fall over his face, blushing.

“Um, thanks?”

“Aw he’s cute too. Right, go dump your bags in your room, then come to the playroom, Joey’s been practicing Mario Kart like _daily_ since you beat him last time.”

Chuckling, Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and led him upstairs to the bedroom they would be sharing for the next two weeks. Somehow, he didn’t think about the fact that he only had a single bed, and, considering his family thought they were dating, they didn’t really have any other option except to share it.

“Fuck, I, um, forgot I just have a single bed, and it would probably look a bit-”

Bags dumped on the floor next to the wardrobe, Keith jumped onto Lance’s bed, putting a hand on his hip in an overly suggestive way that made Lance laugh.

“Come hither, darling.” He drawled in a voice that was half Zabini Blaise and half Scarlett Johansson in _The Jungle Book._ Lance snorted with laughter, and crossed the room to sit on the bed.

“See, big enough for two.” He winked, and Lance began to tickle him mercilessly, until he was practically shrieking, and Lance finally relented. Keith looked cute as hell, hair a mess and sticking up all over the place, face bright red, and a smile plastered onto his cheeks. Lance cleared his throat and broke eye contact.

“So, um, I think Joey might actually not give me something for Christmas if I don’t go downstairs like right now, you coming?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always comments and kudos are appreciated :))


	4. The One Where Klance Happens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is so fluffy and adorable because I'm in that kind of mood (totally not due to any recent experiences). Keith is a clumsy twat also.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the playlist for this chapter will be up some point this week (username is charltennant and the playlists have the same title as the chapters).  
> also I don't really know how long I wanna keep this fic going for, so there'll probably be maybe 3/4 more chapters (ish???), but yeah please do comment if you want me to keep going with this :))

“Suck it, Lance!” Of course Keith was winning, and Joey was happy in an admirable second place, providing he held his lead over Lance. And the latter was pretty sure that lead wouldn’t have been kept up for so long, or at all as a matter of fact, had Keith not been there to distract his ‘boyfriend’. Each and every time Lance looked as though he was about to race ahead, Keith would dart in and kiss his cheek, or his neck, which caused Lance to gasp, and Joey to mime vomiting.

  
Keith’s incessant distractions was the reason why Lance lost the game, and therefore the reason why he was now $30 poorer than he was that morning (he’d bet Joey $20 that he could win, and made a similar wager with Ria for $10). It was also the reason why Lance seemed to be unable to stop blushing for the rest of the day.

  
When the pair climbed into bed that night, it was more awkward than Lance had expected it to be. Together, they had spent countless nights in Keith’s bed, and it had never been awkward before, and yet now, as they lay next to each other, side by side but not touching, a somewhat tense silence hung between them. It may have been quiet, but Lance’s mind would not shut up. He thought about the events of the day, trying desperately to discern one from another, but in his tired state they all seemed to jumble together. The way Keith’s eyes lit up as he laughed when he won Mario Kart. How gentle his hands had been as they held his hips while they washed up. The softness of his lips on Keith’s neck. Lance thought about the huskiness of Keith’s voice when he’d said goodnight, and how good he looked in his pajamas (black boxers and a red t-shirt), hair messily tied up in a ponytail, dark strands framing his face.

  
“Dude, I can’t sleep laying on my back like this.” Keith had turned to face Lance, who jolted ever so slightly when Keith’s hand met his hip. His t-shirt had ridden up towards his ribs and the skin on skin contact, however innocent, had Lance slightly short of breath.

  
“Turn around.” Lance did as he was told, and shifted so that his back was pressed against Keith’s chest, and the latter’s hand moved around so it rested comfortably on Lance’s chest, wrapped around his body. It was warm, and soon Lance felt his eyelids fluttering, dragging him into sleep.  
They woke up in that same position the next morning. Keith’s face was pressed into Lance’s neck, and the brown-haired boy was so spectacularly aware of the breaths he was exhaling that he found it hard to keep his own breathing steady. It was in that position that Lance’s mom found them when she came to wake them up in the morning.  
“Lance, baby? You awake?”

  
Lance hummed softly as he made eye contact with his mom, placing a finger to his lips, hoping she took the hint – Lance was comfy as all hell, and he liked being this close to Keith; he didn’t want to have to get up.

“No, you need to get up. Both of you, up now.” Flicking the light switch on, she crossed the room and opened the blinds. Lance squinted against the weak winter sun, and was about to protest the sudden brightness when a pair of soft lips pressed against the nape of his neck.

“Morning, babe.”  
Lance felt Keith’s lips move as he murmured against his skin, and his eyes fluttered shut at the contact. His hand seemed to move subconsciously as he interlocked fingers with Keith, and the latter nuzzled his nose against Lance’s neck again as he began to wake slowly.

“Okay you two, you can be adorable for a few more minutes, but I really need you up soon. There’s pancakes cooking, and I need you to do some shopping for me.”

Just to be a dick, Keith smirked and bit down gently on the soft skin of Lance’s neck, who tried desperately to keep his whimper muffled into the pillow as his mom shut the door. Groaning into the pillow, Lance shoved his elbow back, and felt it connect lightly with Keith’s ribs. The latter chuckled, then shrieked as Lance threw the blanket onto the floor and jumped out of bed. He grabbed Keith’s wrists and hauled him out of bed alongside him.

“Dude, what the hell?” Keith voice was weirdly high pitched as he struggled in a futile manner against Lance’s grip in an attempt to dive back into the glorious warmth of the bed.

“Nope. Come on, man, pancakes.” It was at that moment that the delicious smell of sizzling butter and bittersweet lemon juice wafted up the stairs, and that seemed to be encouragement enough for the pair to chuck on clean clothes – Lance heading into the bathroom to get changed because nudity and all that – make an attempt to tame messy hair, and head downstairs hand in hand because “we need to be believable, Lance!”.

Two things were decided by Keith that morning. Firstly, Adelita McClain’s pancakes were the best things ever to grace this planet. And secondly, he really, really liked being affectionate with Lance. Having never been the most affectionate person, Keith thought the fortnight would be difficult in the sense that he would have to force himself to be overly affectionate with his best friend. However, it seemed to be coming almost too easily. Keith now barely even gave a thought before sliding his hand around Lance’s waist, or pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. He no longer hesitated before interlinking their fingers under the table, or interrupting Lance’s adorable laugh with a chaste press of lips against lips. The best thing about it was how Lance reacted. He initiated kisses just as much as Keith did, but every time Keith leaned in, he sensed a hitch in his breath, or noticed the flushing of his cheeks. Lance had always been oversensitive to any sort of affectionate touch, and, although he’d never tell his best friend this, Keith had always found it adorable.

Perhaps Keith had been thinking about Lance’s soft lips for slightly too long because Lance’s fingers tightened around his under the table. A worried frown turned into an amused smirk as Keith looked at Lance, and proceeded to knock the sugar pot flying off the table in an attempt to reach for his knife and fork. Wrenching his hand from Lance’s, he heard his friend cackling as he scrambled around on the floor, desperately trying to piece all the broken bits of crockery back together.

“I’m so sorry, Mrs McCl- sorry, Lita. I’m not normally so clumsy, I…” Keith was rambling as his hands rushed to clear up the sugar that seemed to be scattered across the entirety of the kitchen. He could hear Lance’s siblings giggling profusely, and felt his face begin to heat up. It was at that moment that he stopped paying attention to what his hands were doing, and he felt a sharp pain blossom in his right hand.

“Ah, shi-” He remembered the age of some people in the room and closed his mouth, gripping his hand tightly, still mouthing several curses.

“Fuck, Keith, are you okay?” Scrambling out of his chair, Lance knelt down next to his friend and inspected the fairly deep cut on Keith’s palm. Even Adelita ignored the use of profanity and was already on her feet, reaching for the first aid kit that was stored in the cupboard under the sink.

“Maria, would you take Sofy and Ester to get ready? Mateo, you go with Joey, please.” The requests were met with surprisingly little resistance, an in less than two minutes, Keith was sat at the table as Lita cleaned the cut with warm water and antiseptic. Keith forced tears back, comforted by Lance rubbing small circles on his back.

“I think we can get away without stitches, thankfully. I’m going to butterfly stitch it though, and no getting it wet for the next few days, okay?”

“Thank you Lita, and I’m sorry again for the sugar pot.”

“That’s really not what I’m worried about right now, cariño.”  
Keith chuckled weakly, and shifted to face Lance, anxious frown etched on his face.

“Babe, I’m fine. Really.”

“You’re an idiot, is what you are.”  
Lifting his hand – and only wincing a little bit – Keith pressed a gentle kiss to Lance’s lips.

“See? Fine.”  
Lance hummed disapprovingly, and placed a tender hand on the back of Keith’s neck. Leaning in, he kissed Keith soft and slow, and the older boy hummed quietly into his mouth.

“Right, I need to wash up and you two are in the way. Also, get a bloody room.”  
Shooing them out of the room with a tea towel, Lita smiled to herself. It had been a while since Lance had looked at someone that way, and had the gaze reciprocated.

When they finally returned to their room, Lance found himself holding Keith’s hand. He brought it up to his mouth, and kissed each individual finger, his breath shaky as he kissed ever so softly around the wound on Keith’s palm. He looked up to see Keith blushing like hell, and maybe that was the reason why Lance couldn’t seem to resist bringing both hands up to cup Keith’s face. They made eye contact for a second, and the uncertainty in Keith’s eyes had Lance’s heart fluttering. He rubbed a thumb over Keith’s cheekbone and leaned in ever so slowly, giving his friend the chance to move away. But he didn’t.

Their lips met and the kiss was different to any of the times they had kissed before. This time, they didn’t have an audience – it wasn’t for practice. Keith’s eyes were closed and his breathing unsteady. Lance’s hands slipped around to wind themselves gently in Keith’s hair, and the latter bought his own hands to lightly grip Lance’s hips. Everything about the kiss was slow and hesitant and unhurried. Lance struggled to keep his hands just in Keith’s hair, and before long they slid down to his shoulders and pushed him backwards onto Lance’s bed. He let out a slight whimper when Lance clambered onto his lap, but otherwise showed no aversion to what was happening. Lance pulled back for a moment to ask if Keith was okay; if he was alright with what was happening. His lips had barely left Keith’s, however, when the latter was gripping Lance’s shirt tightly and pulling him forward again so that their lips could reconnect. They remained that way for a while until Lance pulled away again.  
He leaned his forehead against Keith’s, hands remaining on Keith’s hips, and searched the other’s eyes for the words he was looking for.

“Keith… What are we doing?”  
Pressing a soft kiss to Lance’s lips, Keith replied in tone that was huskier than usual.

“I don’t know.” Another tender kiss. “But I like it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as usual, comments and kudos are really appreciated <3


	5. The One Where Renata Arrives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance being extra cute bc I cant help myself. Fireworks and shit happen bc I'm cheesy like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight homophobia warning for this chapter.  
> theres also some Spanish so ill put the translations here:  
> -cariño: my dear  
> -tía: aunt  
> -el pequeño: little  
> -¿Es esto cierto? ¿Es este joven el novio de Lance?: Is this true? Is this young man Lance's boyfriend?  
> -¿Ya es bastante malo que él tenga un novio, pero además ¿él ni siquiera puede hablar español?: It's already bad enough that he has a boyfriend, but he cannot speak Spanish?  
> -Keith es mi novio. ¿Es eso un problema, tía?: Keith is my boyfriend. Is that a problem, auntie?
> 
> OK SO I google translated all of that so if any of its horrifically wrong please tell me so I can change it!
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO I don't rly think anyones using the playlists I'm making lmao, so I'm gonna make one for this chapter, but not for the rest of the chapters (there'll be about 2-5 more chapters, I haven't decided yet) also the playlist are on Spotify, user is charltennant and the playlists have the same titles as the chapters :)

Keith’s lips were soft and ever so slightly chapped (Lance really needed to introduce this guy to lip balm) and Lance wasn’t sure he was breathing properly. He was sat on his bed, Keith in his lap, the latter’s hands in Lance’s hair as they kissed each other softly, but with fervour. Lance was sure he could do this forever, just enjoying the feel of Keith, and the thought that this kiss was purely for them. It wasn’t for an audience or for practice; they both wanted to kiss the other, and so they did.

“Shopping still needs doing, _amores_!”

The shout from Lita was ignored as the two continued kissing. It wasn’t until she shouted up again, louder this time, that Keith pulled away.

“As much as I love this,” he kissed Lance on the tip of his nose with a softness that got Lance’s heart fluttering like crazy (as if it wasn’t already). “I am genuinely scared of what your mom might do if we don’t get our asses down those stairs.”

“She can wait a _little_ longer, I’m sure,” he replied, and with a confidence that Lance had never really had before, he tilted his chin up and caught Keith in another kiss. His hands began to travel up Keith’s sides, sliding under his shirt. To his surprise, Keith giggled against his mouth, grabbing Lance’s hands.

“Oh my god you’re ticklish.”

“Nope.” Kissing Lance’s nose again, Keith decided to be a little shit and lean away ever so slightly every time Lance leant forward to kiss him.

“What do you say?” Practically able to hear Keith’s smirk, Lance replied with a breathless ‘ _please?’,_ and then the two were kissing again; the most heated one yet.

“Oi!” They sprung apart as Ria entered the small room, cheeks flushed and lips swollen.

“Look, I know you two can barely keep your hands off each other but if you don’t go shopping, Ma’s gonna make me go and I’ve got my own stuff to do.”

“Well, so do we! Why can’t you go?” Lance retorted with an indignance that only a little brother could perfect.

“Because, you twat, I have actual stuff to do, like looking after my daughter, which is slightly more important than making out with your boyfriend I think, no matter how hot he is.”

At this, Lance relented, because, well, Ria’s reasoning was fair enough, and also if _she_ went, he’d have to look after his niece, which wasn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his day. Which is why, fifteen minutes and a lecture from Lita on time wasting later, Keith and Lance sat in the bright blue car, beginning the short drive to the shops. To be honest, they probably could have walked, but neither particularly fancied carrying bags and bags of shopping home. The list Adelita had given them was long. Really long. It had everything from cheese to washing up liquid to Christmas crackers to fresh rosemary to Sellotape, and of course, the local shop was sold out in at least half of the items on the list. Given that there were merely three days until Christmas Day itself, this wasn’t really surprising, but Keith still found it difficult to believe that the supermarket had run out of something as commonplace as butter.

So, they loaded everything they had bought into Lance’s tiny car, and began the twenty minute drive to the parade of shops that was situated on the outskirts of the next town over. They passed a variety of shops as they drove, and they each pointed out their favourites. Lance, of course, knew all the little shops hidden away behind the larger supermarkets; tiny bookshops, dingy record shops, charity shops which looked as though they’d been built before Keith was even born.

“But,” Lance slowed the car as they passed a practically ancient coffee shop which Keith definitely would have missed had his friend not pointed it out.

“This one’s my favourite ever.” The shopfront was only about 8 feet across, and the sign above the door had the words _‘Coffee House’_ painted in a faded cream. The whole café had an air of unfinished finesse; with lanterns hanging from the ceiling and crates which served as stools, it didn’t really look like the kind of place Keith would imagine Lance’s favourite place being. He had imagined somewhere vibrant and bright – new. Somewhere with loud music and lots of people; _‘Coffee House’_ was practically empty.

“It was kinda nice to have somewhere warm and quiet and, like, welcoming, when my family was driving me mad. Like, don’t get me wrong – I love them all to bits, but, you know, not the most peaceful household.” Chuckling softly, Lance kept driving, and the silence wasn’t broken until they pulled up to the supermarket.

“Take me there one day?” Even though he’d meant it as a question, Keith realised suddenly that it could be been interpreted as a demand.

“I mean, if you want t-”

“Of course I will, you idiot. Can be our first date.” There were a lot of moments in Lance’s life where he wished he had just kept his mouth shut. This was one of those moments.

“Fuck, I didn’t even – I mean, I would like, um, but if you don’t want, shit, I mean, I wanna take you there, but it doesn’t have to be a date, but it can be, if you want. Or not.” Having just parked the car, Lance rested his head on the wheel, cursing himself for not even being able to speak properly around someone he’d known for years.

“A date sounds awesome, babe.”

Lance was still blushing when they parked the car back at his Ma’s house. He was still blushing as they carried all the bags into the kitchen, and _still_ blushing as they put all the food away. Maybe it was the fact that he was now going on a date with Keith, after four years, or maybe it was Keith taking every opportunity to be close to him. Sneaking up behind him and wrapping his arms around his waist when he wanted to, twirling him round so he could kiss him.

“So now I know I can kiss you whenever I want, I’m gonna be kissing you as much as I can.”

Keith kissed him softly on the nose as he responded. “Yeah, I have absolutely no issue with that.”

Putting the shopping away took a while because they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other, so by the time they’d finished, the sun was already beginning to set. Given that it was winter, this was hardly shocking, however Adelita refusing any help with dinner and ushering them out the kitchen came as a surprise to Keith.

It was then that Keith noticed he’d not been allowed in the kitchen or garden all day. When he asked Lance why, the younger boy simply smiled, kissed him, and led him into his bedroom. They lay together, legs entangled, on Lance’s bed for a good three hours, watching films, kissing, and discussing Harry Potter headcanons. It wasn’t until they were laying down on Lance’s bed, kissing softly, that Lance’s stomach grumbled embarrassingly loudly, and Keith realised that it was already 8:30 and they hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

“You need food, man. Dinner’s gotta be soon right?” Sitting up, Keith noticed the devious smile on Lance’s face as he smoothed down his t-shirt.

“Okay so, Ma wanted me to keep this a surprise, but I reckon they’ll all be ready now, so let’s go.”

“Where?” Keith asked as he was pulled out of the room and down the stairs. Lance didn’t answer.

Beside Lance’s room, Keith’s favourite part of his boyfriend’s (???) house was the garden. Huge and colourful, the garden was covered in grass, and had potted plants lining the decked area which lay in front of the glass doors that connected the garden to the dining room. A basketball which, according to Lance, had been there for almost two decades, and was slightly warped out of shape from where Ria had attempted a slam-dunk five years ago. There was a battered soccer goal, complete with dents, scratches, and splatters of mud, which Joey had received for his 8th birthday.

Usually, various scooters, bikes, tennis rackets and hula hoops lay strewn across the grass, however today they had all disappeared (hidden, Keith presumed, in the wooden shed that stood at the end of the lawn). It was nearing nine o’clock, so it was pretty much pitch black outside, which is why Keith started when a match was lit on the other side of the garden, and second later a bright burst of colour was shot into the night sky. The firework exploded into a lively burst of sparks, accompanied by an astounding boom.

Keith felt a hand snake around his waist, and he leant his head onto Lance’s shoulder.

“It’s kind of a tradition, every year on the 23rd, we light a load of fireworks, and have hot chocolate and all that. A good surprise?”

Keith chuckled as he watched Lance’s siblings skip around the garden, wielding sparklers and screeching as they drew their names in the air.

“Definitely.”

The rest of the evening was spent melting marshmallows over the small fire that Lance’s dad (who had arrived home that day, after a week away in London) had built. They watched the fireworks hand in hand, and chatted with the rest of the family as they munched on hotdogs. It was 10:30 before Lita ushered the children indoors, and Keith spent the rest of the night sat with Lance, his parents, and Maria. It was easily the best 23rd of December Keith had ever had.

His euphoria at actually dating Lance and feeling fully accepted into his family faded slightly at the arrival of Renata Zapatero. Adelita’s older sister, and Lance’s aunt. She appeared at the front door at the ungodly hour of seven in the morning, laden with far too many bags for a five day visit, and a smile that instantly made Keith feel at home.

" _Hola_ , take my bags up to my room, would you _cari_ _ño_?”

 “ _Si, tía_ Renata.” Joey picked the bags up, sagging under the wright of all six of them. Keith and Lance exited the kitchen hand in hand, and, under his aunt’s instruction, helped his brother to carry the bags up the stairs.

This left Keith alone with Renata in the hallway. Feeling as though it was his duty, he ushered her into the kitchen and put the kettle on.

“ _Cari_ _ño_ , I have not seen you before, are you a friend of Lance’s?”

Her voice had a thick accent, and if he hadn’t been living with the rest of Lance’s family for the past few days he’d probably have an issue understanding her.

“Um, kind of. I’m his boyfriend.”

“His boyfriend? Now,  _el pequeño_ Lance did not tell me this.”

Keith panicked, scrambling for words. It wasn’t his place to tell Lance’s family – he’s just assumed she would know. And, by the sounds of it she wasn’t expecting it at all – oh god, Keith thought, what is she doesn’t know Lance is bi?

“Um…”

Thankfully, he was spared answering by the entrance of Lita into the kitchen.

“Lita! _¿Es esto cierto? ¿Es este joven el novio de Lance?"_

“Renata, English! Keith doesn’t speak Spanish.”

 _“¿Ya es bastante malo que él tenga un novio, pero además ¿él ni siquiera puede hablar español?"_ Renata’s voice had taken a bitter tone, and despite not being able to understand a word she was saying, Keith found himself feeling unwelcome.

“Um… Lita, do you guys want me to go? I can, uh, go help with the bags?” He phrased it as a question, and was very much hoping that Adelita answered in the affirmative, because he really didn’t want to be here at the moment.

“No, I’d like you to stay, if that’s ok.”

Lita walked over to the doorway, and hollered up the stairs for Lance to _“come down here right now, I need to talk to you.”_ The three waited in stony silence for what must have been less than two minutes, but felt enormously longer.

“ _Si,_ Ma?”

Lance bounded into the kitchen with his usual excited puppy energy, but Keith noticed that he stayed at least two feet away from him, whereas he would usually at least greet him with a hug.

“Lance, Renata seems to have some kind of issue with you and Keith being together.”

At this, Lance whirled on his mother.

“You told her?”

Renata was still seething by the breakfast bar, hands clenched around the tassels of the violet scarf that hung from her neck.

“No, I did. I’m sorry, I didn’t know that she didn’t know I-”

“Hey, don’t worry, it’s okay,” Lance stepped closer, wrapping a hand around Keith’s waist, “she was going to find out anyway.”

Looking over to his aunt, Lance’s face took on the coy smile that meant he was hiding something painful.

“ _Keith es mi novio. ¿Es eso un problema, tía?”_ There was so much bitterness loaded into the last word that Keith assumed the smile he’d noticed as Renata arrived was at least partly for show.

She seemed lost for words at Lance’s confidence, and was rendered entirely speechless as Lance kissed Keith, hard – leaving the latter breathless. At this, Lance took Keith’s hand, and the pair left the kitchen together, leaving Adelita to answer Renata’s angrily phrased questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated as usual :)


	6. The One Where It's CHRISTMAS EVE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ITS CHRISTMAS EVE so theres a lot of fluff and keith being involved in family stuff and its cute and ive just reliased this thing has like no plot any more but its cute so its fine (also helen couldn't edit it this time so theres likely gonna be some mistakes bc I hate editing I'm SORRY)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHRISTMAS EVE HAPPENS so I felt rly weird writing this because I had to get out my copy of the night before Christmas and we only usually get it out on Christmas eve and there was me using it for my fanfic on sep 14th :) also I'm sorry that this chapter took ages to post but I was on holiday then school started (gcses are hard ok). if u couldn't already tell I was in a very clingy mood while writing this and that because my girlfriend is currently grounded so I cant see her very much and I need kisses plz. I think there'll be about two more chapters? nd thank u all for reading :))
> 
> also in this chapter theres some more badly translated Spanish in this one so if any of you can speak Spanish plz plz correct me because I rly don't speak Spanish at all lmao tHank U

It had been two hours since Renata had arrived and Lance had not said a word to her since he’d stormed out of the kitchen with Keith. The fact that she would react like that angered Lance; having always doted on him, that she would flip like that because he wasn’t straight confused him more than anything. Another thing that Lance had decided that evening was that Keith was amazing. Absolutely amazing. He had hardly let go of Lance’s hand since they’d left the kitchen, and had spent the last twenty minutes kissing him softly, deep enough to make Lance’s head spin and forget all about Renata.

That is until they hear a soft knock on the door. The pair pull apart and Lance calls for whoever it is to come in. He visibly stiffens when Renata enters, and his grip on Keith’s hand tightens. The mixture of the both these acts was enough to get Keith on his feet, ready to ask Renata to leave before she upset his Lance even more. But then she did something he wasn’t really expecting. Turning towards him, she stepped forwards and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I am sorry Keith, Lance is a very lucky boy to have you on his arm.” In his shock, Keith merely blinked as she stepped towards Lance, who was also now standing, and pulled him into a hug.

“ _Estoy tan lo siento, cariño. Keith es un chico encantador.”_ Lance returned the hug tightly as she muttered the words in Spanish, and Keith stood awkwardly next to the moving scene, further disconcerted by the utterance of a language he did not understand. Lance and his _tía_ remained in that position for a further minue, and when they pulled apart, Lance looked as though tears were threatening to fall for between thick eyelashes.

“ _Gracias, tía.”_  With that, Renata left the room, muttering something (in English this time) about how late is was and how she needed her beauty sleep. At this, Lance gave a watery chuckle, and collapsed backwards onto his bed.

“I really hope those are happy tears dude.”

Lance sat up with a grunt and rubbed his eyes quickly.

“She thinks you’re lovely by the way.” Before Keith could answer, shocked as he was, Lance added: “No idea where she got that idea.”

Keith responded by chucking a pillow at Lance’s face.

“Excuse you, I so _am_ lovely. Your family _love_ me.”

The fact was proven by the unannounced entrance of Ria into Lance’s room.

“Hey!” Lance exclaimed with indignance. “Knock, dude! We could’ve been naked for all you know.”

Miming vomiting, Maria crossed the room and sat down on the bed, right in between her brother and his boyfriend.

“I heard what happened with _tía_ Renata. Please say she came in here to apologise, otherwise I’m gonna flip.”

“Surprisingly yes.”

“Yep, you got me to thank for that.”

Lance looked over at her quizzically, demanding to know what she meant.

“Well I’m the only one that gets to be mean to you, and maybe Joey – as siblings, its our job. But she was being a dick, to be frank. So I reminded her what an awesome nephew you are, and I’m guessing I’m better at giving inspirational speeches than I thought.”

“Thanks Ria.” His eyes began to mist over, and he kissed Ria on the cheek before furiously rubbing his eyes.

Having known Lance for a long time, he had never really seen him show this much emotion freely in such a short space of time. It was refreshing, to see him actually telling people how he feels, rather than bottling it up until Keith found him crying in some bathroom somewhere, and never talking about it again.

“Yeah yeah, I know, best sister of the year award goes to me, nineteenth year running.”

She ruffled Lance’s hair, a movement which caused a look of annoyance on his face, but he didn’t move away from her hand. After a moment of silence, Ria spoke again.

“You know, I really think I deserve another award for keeping your little secret. That applies to you too Keith.”

She saw their shared confused glanced, and stared at them both in turn in disbelief.

“Oh come on, you may have fooled Ma, and I don’t pretend to know when it actually finally happened, but you two definitely were _not_ dating when you arrived.”

She watched Lance stammer for a moment, and shook her head at Keith’s poor attempt at an excuse, and laughed.

“Well, you’re together now, thank god, I don’t think I could handle any more pining. And I won’t tell anyone don’t worry.” She laughed again as Lance opened and closed his mouth, like a fish, and was still chuckling as she swept out of the room, closing the door softly as she went.

“Ok so were a lot worse at lying than we thought wow.”

Hanging his head in his hands, Lance chuckled. Of _course_ Ria had known. He was an idiot to think she wouldn’t – she’d known pretty much everything about him since he was six. She’d been the first person he came out to, back when he was eleven and, as all his friends talked about how fit the girls in their class were, he couldn’t help thinking that quite a few of the boys were as well. Ria had been there as he’d told his parents that he was bi, she was the first (and only) person to know about his first boyfriend. So, it made sense that she would figure their lie out.

“So. What did you get me for Christmas?”

Keith’s voice ripped him from his thoughts.

“Well I can’t tell you that, can I? It’s a surprise!”

“Why not?” Drawing the last word out into a long whine, Keith leaned his head onto Lance’s shoulder.

“You know, being adorable isn’t gonna make me tell you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Swinging his leg around, Keith turned so that he ended up sitting on Lance’s lap. He then interlocked his hands behind his boyfriend’s neck, and the latter’s hands naturally gravitated to Keith’s waist.

“Will you tell me if I do this?”

He kissed Lance’s nose softly, causing the latter to giggle in a way that was entirely adorable in Keith’s eyes.

“Nope.”

“Even if I do this?”

Keith kissed Lance’s right cheek, then the left, then back to the right. This time Lance screwed his eyes shut as he laughed, a light blush spreading over his cheeks.

“Mm.. Still not telling you.”

“You sure?”

Keith then kissed Lance softly and quickly on the mouth. Lance’s eyes remained closed for a few moments after, his blush deepening.

“How are you blushing so much? I literally kissed you once.”

“I know but… I like you a lot.”

“You’re cute. And I like you too, you know.”

They spent the next few minutes kissing tenderly, until Keith pulled away with a cheeky smirk on his face.

“So, will you tell me now?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Look, baby, your puppy dog eyes are adorable, but it’s _Christmas_ dude, I’m not telling you what your present is. That defeats the point.”

Keith huffed before kissing Lance gently again.

“Give me a hint then, at least.”

“You’ll love it.”

Muttering that Lance was a dick, Keith kissed him again before crossing the room in order to pick a film at random from the third shelf of the bookshelf that stood opposite Lance’s bed.

“Dude it’s gone midnight, I’m going to be a zombie tomorrow if we start a film now.”

“I know, and I know you’re probably gonna fall asleep in my arms again. But I really, _really_ need to watch The Order of the Phoenix.”

“Oh, that’s a need, is it?” Lance said as he flopped down onto the bed, pulling his jeans and socks off and chucking them in the general direction of the wardrobe.

“Dude! Order of the Phoenix! How could that not be a need?” After putting the DVD into the player, Keith removed his jacket, folding it neatly and placing it on Lance’s chair, followed by his jeans, socks, and, to Lance’s surprise, his tshirt. Seeing how Lance’s eyebrows rose incredibly and the blush returned to his cheeks, Keith reached for his t-shirt again.

“No, you don’t- I mean, I wouldn’t mind if, but you don’t have to – I mean…”

Keith responded by striding over to his bed (Lance tried, and failed, to ignore Keith’s bare chest as he neared), and kissing Lance on the forehead before rolling over him in order to hug him from behind. It wasn’t like they hadn’t gone to bed like this before, but now that thy were finally doing it as a couple, he was surprised at how similar it felt. Keith still wrapped his arm around his waist, hand splayed across his stomach. The feel of Keith’s breath on his neck still got that blush creeping up his face, and the way their legs tangled together under the duvet still got his heart fluttering like mad.

Hearing shuffling behind him as Keith turned the TV on with the remote that lived on the headboard of Lance’s bed, Lance snuggled down into the bed, using Keith’s other arm as a pillow.

“Swear to god,” Keith whispered, his lips ghosting Lance’s ear, “you give me a dead arm and I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Lance muttered back.

“I don’t know ok, just don’t.” Making a noise that sounded like a cross between a chuckle and a sigh of exasperation Lance replied that he’d try not to, then smiled as the film turned on (loud at first, but quieter after Keith rushed to turn the volume down) and he could feel Keith’s warmth behind him. Closing his eyes, Lance allowed himself to think about Keith; the way his lips felt; or his hands on his neck, and to that thought, Lance slowly drifted off, comforted by Keith’s steady breathing.

When he awoke the next morning, Keith was fast asleep, the TV was buzzing quietly in the background (Keith must have forgotten to turn it off), and strips of morning sun filled the room. He could still feel Keith’s arms around him, one hand dangerously close to the elastic of Lance’s boxer. Rolling over gently as not to awaken Keith, Lance watched as his boyfriend’s eyelids fluttered in his sleep, half covered by a lock of black hair. And that’s how Lance and Keith spent Christmas Eve morning. They cuddled until they were both fully awake; then the tickle fights began. They only left the room when Lance’s stomach began to rumble as they kissed, and both boys decided that waffles were definitely in order.

When the evening rolled around, Keith joined the McClain family in their yearly tradition of reading _The Night Before Christmas._ They all sat around the fireplace in the living room, Sofy in Lance’s lap, Ester in Ria’s, and Matteo leaning against Keith’s side as he yawned repeatedly, despite insisting that he was going to stay awake for father Christmas. Joey sat next to his dad, with his legs in his mum’s lap, ad was yawning repeatedly throughout the reading.

Adelita opened the book, and began reading the first page in a surprisingly childish, and excited voice.

“’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

Her children, grandchild, husband, and Keith alike listened, enraptured in her words. Smiling, Adelita passed the book to her left, which Robert McClain took, and continued the story in a rumbling, cheerful voice.

“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hope that St Nicholas soon would be there.”

He had barely uttered the last word when Sofy was snatching the book from his hands, earning a chuckle from her father. Her voice was high, and fast with excitement, and she had to repeat a few words slowly as she struggled with the harder pronunciation.

“The children were… Nestled all snug in their beds, while vis- visions of sugar plums danced in their heads. And Mama in her, her…” She paused and turned to her brother. “Lala, what’s that word?”

“Kerchief.” Lance answered with a smile, wrapping his arms tighter around his baby sister.

“Mama in her kerchief, and I in my cap had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.”

Since Sofía was sat on Lance’s lap, there was no need to pass the book on, so Lance simply turned the page and continued reading. As it was Lance, he used a playful and excited voice, using as many actions as he could with Sofy limiting his movement.

“When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash,” Lance’s eyes widened as the story continued, still entranced by the story he had read every year for as long as he could remember. “Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the lustre of midday to objects below.”

He passed the book on to Maria, who was trying to contain a wriggling Ester.

“Stay still, sweetie.” When her daughter finally conceded, Maria began reading, and it was then that Keith could really see the family connection between Lance and her. The same bright eyes and excessive hand gestures. Similar voices; with slight accents that got stronger the faster that they talked.

“When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. With a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St Nick. More rapid than eagles his courses they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:”

Ester, old enough to utter short sentences, but still too young to be able to read a page of the book, took great delight in shouting out the names of the reindeer in her biggest possible voice.

“Now Dasher! Dancer, Prancer, Vixen! Um, Comet and Cupid and Donner, Blitzen!”

She smiled as her mum finished off the sentence:

“To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall! Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!”

The book was then passed onto Matteo, whose sleepiness had diminished greatly in the time it had taken for the family to get halfway through the book. His reading was broken, but the amount of enthusiasm he put into it was certainly admirable.

“As dry leaves that before the wild hurri… hurricane fly, when they meet with an obst- um, obstacle? Mount to the sky, so up to the housetop the, um, coursers they flew. With a sleigh full of toys, and St Nicholas too. And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof, the pr… prancing and pawing of each little hoof.”

As the book was eagerly handed to Keith, he cleared his throat; eager to impress the group of people sat before him, all with the same anticipation in their wide eyes.

“As I drew in my head, and was turning around, down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.”

Keith smiled as he finished the sentence, handing the book back to Lita, who retuned the grin warmly. It took close to half an hour, what with Lance’s dramatic hand gestures, and Ester’s excited squeals, to finish the book. Once they had done, the family headed into the kitchen, and set out plates and glasses full of mince pies, carrots, water, and milk.

“For Santa and his reindeers!” Sofy shrieked as she set the plates on the table, before grabbing Matteo’s hand and running upstairs, eager to get to be in bed before father Christmas arrived.

This left Keith in the kitchen with Lance, and his parents (Ria having taken Ester up to bed immediately after the story had been told). Sat in comfortable silence, they sipped on Adelita’s special hot chocolate, which she made only on Christmas Eve, topped with a huge amount of whipped cream, and sprinkled with nutmeg, cinnamon, and mini marshmallows. Keith thought it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. 

The group made small talk, and Lance’s dad, having not had the chance to speak to his boyfriend’s son much during his stay, grilled him with the typical questions. Despite this, Keith felt as though he was approved of, accepted, and appreciated. That thought warmed him more than the mug of hot chocolate he held in his hand. Once the large clock above the table indicated that it was 11pm, the party dispersed, and headed upstairs. That night, as Keith laid comfortably in Lance’s bed, feeling the warmth of his boyfriend behind him, and an arm slung over his waist, and wearing Lance’s tshirt (which was adorned with the image of a huge robot lion wielding a ferocious looking sword), Keith decided that that day – the twenty-fourth of December 2017 – was one of the happiest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos greatly appreciated as usual :)
> 
>  
> 
> ((ALSO I am aware that I forgot to title this chapter but I have fixed that now )))))


	7. The One Where Keith Falls in Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so its Christmas day andklance are being cute idk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey I'm v sorry I haven't posted in a while exams and shit yknow, but I think there will be like 2 more chapters then that's it! thank u all for reading

“ _Buenos días, querido.”_ Keith was awoken from a deep slumber by the sound of his boyfriend’s voice in his ear.

“Mmf… Let me sleep.” Before he could attempt to bury his face in the pillow and try to get back to sleep, Lance jumped up and shouted:

“Keith! It’s Christmas freaking day! Get your fine ass up right now!”

This got Keith’s attention and, albeit reluctantly, he rolled out of bed. He was glad he fell asleep in his trackies because then Lance was grabbing his hand and dragging him all the way downstairs, where the rest of the McClain family was gathered by the Christmas tree in the living room. The tree looked hideous. It was over 6ft tall, decorated higgeldy piggeldy with tinsel of purple, black, silver, red, green, and blue. Homemade clay baubles made by each of the children at different stages of their childhood weighed down alternate branches. Fairy lights adorned the tree, flashing violently in random patterns and, considering it was likely before 6am, Keith had to squint for a bit to get used to it.

Until Keith’s parents had passed, Christmas in the Kogane household had consisted of a meal in the afternoon, accompanied by their closest family friends. Keith’s dad had usually teamed up with his best friends to create the most amazing Christmas buffet, which they ate during the afternoon on Christmas Eve. Then, presents would be exchanged in the evening, an they would sleep under one roof, anticipating the fantastic neon lights that flooded Seoul on the big day.

The Christmas after his parents had died had been the hardest of Keith’s life. He had been living in foster care for nearly five months, as none of his parents’ friends had been in a position to take him in. The dinner had been nice, but too formal and strange. There were Christmas lights haphazardly strewn around the house, but they looked dismal and unprepared in comparison to the ethereal beauty of the lights in Seoul. There had never been a day when Keith had felt more alone.

It was the exact opposite to how he felt now. As soon as he reached the living room, his fingers still interlinked with Lance’s, he was offered a steaming mug of chocolatey coffee (which tasted like heaven). He ended up sat on Lance’s lap, atop a cushion which had flower shaped buttons amateurly sewn on. Sofy was leaning against his thigh, her thumb in her mouth as she eagerly awaited the presents which sat, patient, under the tree. Joey was sat with Matteo to the left of the tree, and Ester was sat with her grandad, whilst her mum was immaturely flicking Lance’s ear, until he finally retaliated; shoving her off the pouf upon which she was sat, her sleepy eyes widening in shock as she raced her hand against the floor to break her fall.

“Lance, _hijueputa!_ ”

Thankfully Adelita was preoccupied with sorting the presents under the tree into nine separate piles – one for each of those present. It was easy to tell which pile was for who. Lita had chosen different wrapping paper for each person – Keith found it easy to tell which pile was for which person. Except for the pile on the left, and the one second one the right, because the wrapping paper was exactly the same. And, if Keith was correct, the piles belonged to Lance and Matteo. He was about to ask Lance why his presents had _Cars_ wrapping paper, when Adelita turned around, her hands laden with stockings. She was dressed in a pale blue dressing gown littered with white snowflakes, and her hair was no longer scraped back into a bun or French plaits, but falls crazily and freely down the shoulders.

“Right! Time for stockings.” She said loudly, and began passing the oversized, decorative socks out to the group, muttering to herself as she went.

“Ok, Matteo, that’s yours, and Sofy. Ester that’s for you sweetie, and Joey, yes ok, don’t snatch. Lance, and Keith, those are yours. And Ria there’s your one.”

Adelita watched on with a gleeful smile as her children (she fully considered Keith as one of her own now) opened their stockings with varying degrees of speed. Lance, of course, began pulling the tiny presents out with an admirable speed, as did Joey and Sofy. Matteo took slightly longer, and Ria took longer still as she helped her daughter open her carefully wrapped gifts. Despite this, it was Keith who took the longest, unaccustomed to the tradition, and touched by the inclusivity. He opened a chocolate orange, followed by multiple toy cars, a bag of marbles, and a tiny book of poetry, the last of which he was deeply touched by, since this meant Lance (who was one of the few who knew of his love for poetry) must have mentioned his admiration for prose to his mother.

Once the stockings were all opened, and multicoloured wrapping paper littered the carpet, Mr McClain clapped his hands once, and headed over to the piles of presents which sat next to the tree, and pulled a box shaped present from the pile on the left. He passed the present to Esther, who, with the help of Adelita, tore eagerly into the present, and an adorable little smile lit up her face as a Thomas the Tank Engine book was revealed.

The present opening continued for over an hour, and by the end of it, Lance was grinning, surrounded by books, wrapping paper, and a brand new laptop. Keith was sat next to him, in his lap, multiple books poetry, some tshirts from his favourite bands, and a notepad and fountain pen from Maria who wanted to encourage his writing. It was the present from Lance which the biggest smile to his face.

After tearing into the blue and red striped wrapping paper, a perplexed look fell across Keith’s face as two old diaries was revealed. Keith picked up the first. The bright blue was faded due to age, and when Keith opened it, the date on the very first page revealed it to be 4 years old. Despite its age, there were post it notes littered through random pages which had clearly been placed there recently. While the rest of the family tore into their gifts and thanked eachother, Keith began to leaf through the diary, picking out the marked pages. Keith wasn’t a very emotional being, but he struggled to keep his lip from quivering as he realised the contents of the notebook.

****

**_16 June 2013_ **

_Went and checked out Kingston college, and im pretty sure I’ll go there, if I can get the grades – the teachers seem really good, and the lab stuff they have is completely beyond anything ive used before._

_Also, got a chance to check out that café, but it was kinda crap. Lost my wallet today too which is annoying because im gonna have to cancel and replace my card and get new id_ _☹_

Keith flicked through the pages until he found another with  a yellow post it note stuck to the edge.

****

**_21 June 2013_ **

_Found my wallet! This guy called Keith text me saying hed found it – apparently id dropped it in that café, and he works there. We met up today, and I was kinda sceptical, but holy shit is he hot. Don’t really get how someone with a name like keith could be so attractive but eh._ – Keith shook his head and smiled disbelievingly as Lance at this - _I have his number so we might meet  up again? Hope we do, he seems like a nice guy._

**_17 July 2013_ **

_Saw Keith again! So pidge thinks that no one can be both hot and a nice person, but I really think that keith is. His smile is so fucking pretty and he makes me laugh and we like a lot of the same stuff. Even better, turns out hes going to a uni not too far from here, so hopefully we can see eachother more?_

**_2 September 2013_ **

_So I started college today, I called ma and she cried. I really like it here so far. And KEITH CAME TO MEET ME AFTER. He didn’t tell me but he turned up after my last lesson with coffee and invited me back to his for a bit. We watched order of the phoenix, and I had a really good time. Ive only knwn him for like 2 months but we’re so locse already  and I kinda wish we were more than friends. I don’t know if ill tell him, I don’t even know if we’ll stay friends for that long, and I don’t wanna ruin what we have. Also I don’t even know if hes gay and ahhh I don’t even know if I am. Eh_

At this point, Keith smiled – the fact that Lance didn’t guess that he wasn’t straight after knowing him for nearly two months.

He continued reading through all the extracts relevant to him, the smile on his face growing brighter and brighter as he did.

**_12 December 2017_ **

_Ok so basically.I properly fucked up. I managed to ask the guy im in love with_ – Keith honest to god gasped at this point, Lance’s eyes distracted from his presents, and were fully focused on Keith’s face – _to pretend to be my boyfriend and come stay with me for two weeks over Christmas. I don’t know what im gonna do_

**_16 December 2017_ **

_We kissed. Keith and I kissed and i. am so in love with him but he didn’t mean it –_ Keith scoffed at that; of course he did – _and it was amazing but it hurts because he was just doing it to practice and for an audience and I just. ugh_

**_22 December 2017_ **

_I KISSED KEITH!!! And this time it wasn’t for show!! He wanted to snd it was the  best kiss yet and i!!!! I just. Oh my god._

Keith wasn’t really one for blushing, but in that moment he went as red as the stockings that lay in a pile on the floor of the crowded living room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos appreciated

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!!


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